Tick Tock
by logarhythm
Summary: A collection of time-related drabbles featuring our favourite characters, as well as some of the ones more overlooked. Various pairings and genres, though the rating won't go above T. [HIATUS]
1. Just a Pocket Watch

**Hey y'all! New drabble series~ :3 This one's all time-related.**

**Individual pairings, genres and ratings will be shown at the beginning of each drabble.**

**This first drabble is a request from _GoddessOfFREAKS_. It's Parental!NinaArmstrong, so be warned. (Believe me, I wouldn't have written it if I'd had a choice. XD)**

**Pairing: Parental!NinaArmstrong**

**Rating: K**

**Genre: Friendship**

**Disclaimer~**

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><p><strong>Drabble One - Just a Pocket-Watch<strong>

_Ding dong!_

"Alexander!" Nina scolded playfully as said dog bounded towards the door. "Don't run in the house!"

Nina trotted after her dog, pausing to peek through the curtains in the living room before opening the door.

"Wow..." she breathed at the massive man standing on her front porch. "Can I help you, Mister?"

Armstrong blinked at the young girl in front of him, before crouching down until he was only a foot above her eye level. "Does Shou Tucker live here?"

Nina nodded enthusiastically. "He's my dad!" She took in his military uniform and looked up at him curiously. "Did you want to see him about work?"

Armstrong smiled down at the little girl. "Yes, I did. Is he in?"

Nina shook her head. "No, he went shopping. For food and stuff. He said he'd be back before six."

Armstrong sighed gruffly. "That's a shame. Should I come back then?"

Nina gave Armstrong a strangely contemplative look before saying, "If you want to, Mister, you can stay here. It's no fun being left here alone."

Armstrong blinked in surprise. "Are you sure, Miss?"

Nina smiled broadly. "Sure! Come on, you can wait for Daddy here." She tugged gently on Armstrong's trouser leg, pulling him inside the house.

Armstrong smiled. "Well, I suppose it would save me some trouble." He followed Nina into the large house, gazing approvingly at the subtle but artistic decorations.

Nina spotted him eyeing up the entrance hall and laughed. "You like the house?"

Armstrong nodded firmly. "Artistic appreciation has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations... and I can tell this is a grand house. Such bold subtlety! Such contrasting similarity! Such artistic architecture!" Armstrong's shirt was promptly ripped off, accompanied with a manly grunt.

Nina stared at the eccentric man currently standing in her entrance hall flexing his muscles. Then she giggled, motioning for him to follow her. "The living room's this way, Mister."

Armstrong obediently followed. "My name is Alex Louis Armstrong. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss."

Nina took the proffered hand with both of her own. "Nina. Nina Tucker! It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Alex."

They continued into the living room, where Nina plonked herself onto the yellow sofa. Armstrong sat down next to her, before lifting her onto his knee with ease, at which she giggled.

"You're so strong, Mr. Alex! Where did you get all these muscles?"

Armstrong laughed heartily. "I worked very hard to get them, Miss Nina. If you try hard enough, you could be beautiful like me!" Cue muscle-flexing.

Nina gaped wide-eyed at the man. "Wow!"

Armstrong nodded proudly. "Miss Nina, do you know what the time is, by any chance?"

Nina shook her head.

"Hmm." Armstrong fished around in his pocket for a moment, before pulling out a gleaming silver object on a chain. He pushed a button and it popped open, revealing a pristine white clock face.

"Wow!" Nina exclaimed again. "That's like the clock Daddy has!"

Armstrong nodded. "Yes, it is. It's the pocket-watch all State Alchemists receive when they pass the State Alchemist Exam."

Nina looked up at Armstrong in awe. "You're a State Alchemist too?"

Armstrong nodded, pride swelling up in his chest as he flexed his arms. "They call me... _The Strong Arm Alchemist_."

Nina smiled widely. "That sounds important!"

Armstrong chuckled, ruffling Nina's hair. "It is."

Nina looked indecisive for a moment, eyeing up the pocket-watch as if judging the chances that it would somehow magically eat her. "Mr. Alex..." she started.

"Hmm?"

She glanced up at him with the cutest eyes Armstrong had ever seen. "Can I see it?"

Armstrong smiled behind his bushy moustache. "Of course, Miss Nina." He handed her the shiny time-keeper, which she took with a silent gasp of wonder.

"Wow..." she repeated again, enthralled by the heavy silver object currently ticking quietly in her loose, clumsy grip. "How do you open it?"

Armstrong gently placed his huge, masculine hand over Nina's tiny one, guiding her thumb to the button on the side. "Press this," he said softly.

Nina applied pressure onto the switch, and the lid suddenly flew open, eliciting a yelp of shock from Nina.

After the initial surprise had faded, she gazed, entranced, for a full three minutes, simply watching the pointy black second hand tick and tock and move around the faded, off-white clock face.

"Do you like it?" Armstrong questioned, smiling at Nina as she repeatedly opened and closed the watch with fascination.

"Yes!" Nina exclaimed, wriggling around on Armstrong's knee until she could reach back and wrap her stubby arms around his thick, muscular neck.

Armstrong opened his mouth to reply, but before words could form on his tongue, the sound of a key in a lock was heard echoing around the empty house.

"Nina?" A muffled call reached the living room, and Nina immediately jumped off Armstrong's knee and proceeded to quickly trot over to the door.

"Daddy!"

"Nina!" The voice sighed in relief.

Armstrong strode into the entrance hall, where he was greeted by a suspicious glance and narrowed eyes in his direction.

"Who are you?" Tucker asked, a protective hand automatically going to his daughter's head.

"Ah, forgive my rudeness. I am Major Alex Louis Armstrong, the Strong Arm Alchemist." His shirt, for the second time that day, was discarded onto the floor. "I came to inquire about your work on the request of Major General Hakuro, Major Tucker, but you weren't in. I offered to leave and come back later, but your daughter was fairly insistent that I stay."

Tucker slowly looked down at his daughter, asking softly, "Is this true, Nina?"

Armstrong didn't hold it against him. It was only natural that one would be wary if they found a man such as Armstrong suddenly inhabiting their house while they were away.

"Yes!" Nina exclaimed happily. "Mr. Alex was really nice. He showed me his pocket-clock. It looks just like yours!"

Tucker, after a brief moment's consideration, offered the far larger man a hand. "It's nice to meet you, Major Armstrong."

Armstrong took the proffered hand and shook it eagerly. "A pleasure, indeed, Major Tucker." He paused, retracting his hand before saying slightly quieter, "Well, is there somewhere private we can go to discuss... work-related matters?"

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><p>"Bye bye, Mr. Alex!" Nina called, waving cheerily as Armstrong departed. "Come and show me your pocket-clock again soon!"<p>

Armstrong chuckled. "Okay, I'll drop by again on my next break. That is, as long as it's okay with your father," he said meaningfully, sparing a glance at Tucker, who nodded.

"Yay!" Nina squealed.

"Well, I must be going," Armstrong said, waving at the little girl over his shoulder as he shut the cast iron gate behind him.

"See you soon!" Nina yelled as Armstrong began to march down the street.

Armstrong nodded as he strode away. He couldn't help but find himself eagerly awaiting the day when his next break would come.

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><p><strong>There. Are you happy now, <em>GoddessOfFREAKS<em>? XD**


	2. Late Again

**I iz back with more random inspiration :D I seriously have no idea where this came from. xD**

**Pairing: RoyEd**

**Rating: T**

**Genre: Romance/Humour**

**Disclaimer~**

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><p><strong>Drabble Two - Late Again<strong>

_Slam._

"You're late."

Roy took in the glare of hell Ed shot at his superior officer as he strode over to the sleek leather sofa in Roy's inner office, sighing in contentment as he sank into the Ed-shaped dent left there from the previous years. "I'm not an idiot, you know," he snarled.

"If you're so clever, why can't you read the clock well enough to arrive on time for once?" Roy looked up from his paperwork not once, the graceful scrawls flowing, uninterrupted, from his hand. The only clue that he had even spoken at all was the small, sadistic smirk creeping onto his handsome features and the red steam shooting out of Ed's ears.

"I can read the fucking clock! I just got... distracted on the way here." Ed's outraged shout had diminished into a slightly embarrassed mumble by the end, causing Roy to raise a curious eyebrow as he finally acknowledged Ed's existence and capped his pen.

"What on earth could possibly mean more to you than the chance to prove me wrong and actually arrive to work on time?"

Roy guessed Ed was close to hitting him, if the spasmodic twitching in his left hand was anything to go by.

At the silence (and lack of immediate violence), the other slim eyebrow rose to match its partner. "Fullmetal?"

Roy swore he could hear the birds singing miserably under the drizzly sky outside.

"It's nothing," Ed said finally, after a pause that was far too long to be convincing.

Roy shot the teen a mildly irritated look. "Tell me what happened, Fullmetal."

Ed suddenly snapped around in his seat, all traces of quiet discomfort gone in the space of time it took for Roy to blink in surprise. "What business is it of yours? Nothing happened! Absolutely nothing! I was just thinking and I lost track of time!"

Roy suspected that he would not have been convinced even if Ed's face hadn't been beetroot red and he hadn't been wringing his hands in his lap. He made a mental note to never send Ed on undercover missions, as his acting skills were obviously appalling. "Fullmetal, if something is bothering you, then I expect you to tell me. I can't have a subordinate of mine become useless because they're too busy stewing in unspoken problems to concentrate on being a good soldier."

Ed pulled a face at the older man, though his shoulders relaxed in defeat. It must've been something rather important, Roy noted, because it would normally have taken a lot longer to crack Ed's shell. "It... It really was nothing. Nothing to worry about, anyway."

Roy could barely catch what Ed was saying, the quick, quiet mumbles of words all merging together into one long string of mushy consonants and vowels. "Yeah, it really sounds like nothing."

Roy almost cringed away at the intensity of the acidic glare Ed shot him in reply. Almost. "Look," he began in a marginally softer tone, "I can tell that if you don't tell _someone_, you're going to be distracted all day. I'm sure you don't want to deal with the constant 'what's up?'s from my staff."

Ed screwed his face up, grunting out a reluctant sigh. He was apparently trying to cover up the colour on his face, as he leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, and covered his cheeks with his palms in a bad attempt at making it look natural. "I was... at the florist."

Roy barely suppressed a smirk, knowing it would only make matters worse. Instead, he struggled to contain the mirth in his tone as he echoed, "the florist?"

"Yes, the florist," Ed grumbled. "I know the woman who owns the shop, and I stopped by to ask if she knew someone's favourite kind of flower, that's all."

Roy couldn't resist the teasing, though genuinely surprised, smirk this time. "I didn't realise you were one to woo girls, Fullmetal. I assumed you were the blunt, unromantic, 'sleep with me now' type."

"Shut the fuck up," Ed growled, though it lacked its usual bite, and Roy raised an eyebrow.

"Did the florist know?"

"Know what?"

"The meaning of life." Roy rolled his eyes. "Did they know this person's favourite flower?"

Ed sighed gruffly, raking a hand through messy hair that looked like it was particularly familiar to that action today. "No."

"You say that like it was a surprise. You can't expect a florist to know everyone's favourite flower just because they work in a flower shop."

Ed glared daggers at Roy. "I know that, bastard. It's just... this person, they go to that florist a lot, so I thought maybe..." Ed cut himself off with a low, disgruntled sound in the back of his throat.

Roy, by this point, had completely forgotten the original purpose of the capped pen being twiddled mindlessly in his fingers. "Do I know this person?"

Ed jerked. "H-huh?"

Roy raised an amused eyebrow. "No need to practise your 'deer-in-the-headlights' look, Fullmetal. I was merely wondering if I could do you a favour and ask this person what their favourite type of flower was."

If at all possible, Ed's face seemed to have flushed an even richer shade of scarlet. A million emotions fluttered across his face, each swiftly vanishing before Roy got the chance to read it, as if he was trying to make a difficult decision. Roy sat patiently until Ed finally let out a deep breath, as if he hadn't been breathing for the past thirty seconds. "Yeah. Yeah, you do."

"Oh? Is it Melanie? Or Lavender? Or I suppose Kirsty could be your type, what with her small stature-"

"I'M NOT SHORT."

Roy chuckled lowly. "Mind giving me a name? Or are you planning on leaving me in the dark? That would be incredibly cruel of you, Fullmetal. Especially since you've already given me so much information."

"You want a name?" Ed asked slowly, his breath catching in his throat.

Roy nodded, knowing Ed was watching his every movement out of the corner of his eye, though he couldn't deny that he was somewhat apprehensive at the odd behaviour.

"Roy Mustang."

The admission came so firmly and so unexpectedly that Roy felt as if he'd been physically winded. "... What?"

Ed lifted his head to face the older man, his trademark look of fierce determination burning in his molten gold irises. "The person's name is Roy Mustang."

There was a long period of silence, during which neither party moved, though both minds were swirling with information and emotion, drinking in the other's expression for any hint of what was to come next.

"Red roses."

Ed blinked himself out of his reverie. "Huh?"

Roy shot him a light smirk, repeating, "Red roses."

Ed's jaw loosened, his mouth hanging open just a touch as he responded slowly, "That simple?"

Roy nodded, amusement twisting his smirk into a smile. "That simple."

Ed flushed again, seeming to remember the cause of such a question as he replied, "I would've thought someone like you would pick some hardly-known, fancy-schmancy flower that 'suits your exotic personality' or some shit like that."

To Ed's obvious surprise, Roy laughed. "I'm a simple man at heart, Fullmetal. And, just out of interest, where did you hear that I had an 'exotic' personality?" he asked, his eyes tinted with teasing amusement.

Ed glanced down at the maroon carpet as his cheeks flushed to match its colour. "W-well, I thought everyone must say that since you're always c-charming girls and everything, and-"

"I charm boys too."

At this, Ed's jaw dropped through the floor. Roy could almost hear the thoughts screaming in the young man's head as he slowly turned to look Roy straight in the eye. "You... You're serious?"

Roy smirked. "Would I joke about something like this?"

Ed blinked, scowling at the man before saying something Roy would never have expected to come out of that dirty mouth. "Seven o'clock on Friday?"

Roy blinked, before quickly recovering and flashing Ed his best lady-killer smile. "Sounds good to me."

Ed stood abruptly. "Good. S-see you then, I guess." And with that, he quickly fled the room, embarrassment winning over. Roy chuckled as Breda's muffled, 'What's up? Your face is red,' seeped through the thing office walls.

Truth be told, Roy had never been so happy about a subordinate turning up late.

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><p><strong>Reviews are like giant chocolate cakes to authors. Just thought everyone should know. Not dropping hints or anything. ;D<strong>


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